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The camera zooms in. There's a child, sitting in his father's lap, with a book propped up in front of them.

They're reading together, bonding. It's a precious moment, one a lot of us can picture or imagine.

But how often does it actually happen? Are parents still reading to their kids?

Diana Brown, community services manager for the libraries in New Castle County, at least hopes they are.

"It's not just about reading readiness," Brown said, describing a new program in New Castle County. Called "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten" it encourages parents to read to their kids in the years before they go to school.

"I think the timing of 1,000 Books is really about this feeling that many people have that we're becoming so disengaged from society, that we're on our devices all the time. This is really about social engagement between students and caregivers, parents, grandparents."

Research shows reading to children not only helps build language and literacy skills but social skills, Brown said. By the age of 2, children who are read to regularly display greater language comprehension, larger vocabularies and higher cognitive skills than their peers.

New Castle County has launched a new early childhood reading initiative.(Photo: Courtesy of New Castle County)

Creating a steady stream of new, age-appropriate books has been shown to nearly triple interest in reading within months, but unfortunately, in middle-income neighborhoods, the ratio of books per child is 13-to-1, and in low-income neighborhoods, the ratio can be as low as one age-appropriate book for every 300 children.

That's one of the reasons New Castle County libraries have always been so devoted to early literacy initiatives — the system's longstanding Story Time program provides reading and socialization activities for children from birth through three years of age.

Children can earn prizes, and there are incentives for them to read. But, that program and other summer reading efforts are mostly focused on school-age kids, not those who can't read yet and need their parents help, Brown said.

"With this one, the incentive is for the parent," Brown said.

New Castle County Executive Matthew Meyer announced a new early childhood reading initiative April 20.(Photo: Courtesy of New Castle County)

The 1,000 Books program was officially launched April 20, Brown said. County Executive Matt Meyer visited the county's Kirkwood branch library to announce the program, which provides resources like recommended reading lists, tracking logs and a smartphone app to help families record their progress through the program.

Parents and caretakers are encouraged to visit their local New Castle County library branch or visit nccde.org/libraries to learn more.

“Reading to children every day is vitally important to the future of our country,” Meyer said. “Through the new 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, we build upon the New Castle library system’s commitment to have every child read every day.”

Contact Jessica Bies at (302) 324-2881 or jbies@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @jessicajbies.